San Gabriel Valley Digest

Pomona : Scam Costs Woman $4,500

A 74-year-old Pomona woman lost $4,500 to two women who claimed that they needed her help to cash a lottery ticket worth $250,000.

Pomona Police Detective Edwin G. Hanney said the incident, which began at a supermarket parking lot on Garey Avenue, is the second in the past few months in which a victim has been tricked out of thousands of dollars.

In the latest incident, the victim, who asked that her name not be used, said she encountered a woman sitting in a supermarket parking lot who said she was ill, lost and needed help cashing a $250,000 lottery ticket. A second woman came by and offered to help too.

The victim was persuaded to withdraw $4,500 from a bank as evidence of her good faith in handling the lottery ticket. Then, the victim was sent into a store to get medicine for one of the women, and when she came back, the women and her money were gone.

The victim, a registered nurse, said she is usually not easily taken in. "I don't know what happened to me," she said. "It was like some form of hypnotism."